life and life's thoughts

Navigation

Tag Archives: beverages

Post navigation

Really now, there is something for everyone nowadays, and that includes the lovers of handbags… including me!!
I just got to reading earlier this morning and low and behold what article popped into my face.. Yes, a handbag that serves/ holds your favorite beverage…
Not like you think though… it has a built-in thingy that holds your beverage of choice… and to be honest, okay, if you don’t want others to know that you are taking a nip of a certain beverage, but otherwise I am not tooooo convinced of its functionality, and a spigot on the side of the bag is not my idea of a good looking hand bag nor of cleanliness either. Or am I just out of it when it comes to fashion statements???

Plus, a small bottle of water or the sorts is just as good and just imagine, you fill your handbag up with a beverage and the container springs a leak… Then what!!! Scream or cry or maybe even both, if you’ve got some precious things in your handbag…..

My eyes are watering already with that thought… or even worse my Mascara is running down my face at this thought…. Everything is ruined, but then to prevent this I need the super duper waterproof bag in a bag to prevent the worst case scenario….

But, you never know… Invited to a party or out with friends … You got it!! Beverages are on hand and if a group of you have the same sort of handbags then…. Hey, let’s have a party!!! Drinks galore!!! I mean really, I always have a couple of cups in my hand bag for such occasions; should I run into a friend with that sort of handbag. I bet you have cups in your handbag, too???

Though I must be honest here and say that none of my friends have such handbags… Why they don’t I cannot say… Sorry
A somewhat concerning thought for me is while I am out and about and may have a bit of red wine left over from last evening in my bag( please don’t tell anyone my secret here) and I accidently catch the spigot on my clothing …. Then a red wine stain and how do I explain that at work and hope that everyone believes me???? Any answers???
Plus, how do I clean this beverage container thingy handbag?? I feel really perplexed with such thoughts.. Or who cares …

Another thought is how much does such a handbag cost and where can I buy one, should I ever what one??? And does it have a built in cooling system for those hot days in the summer or does it keep my beverages warm in the winter and what does it weigh…. These questions need to be answered, don’t they and I bet you thought the same as I was thinking, but just afraid to ask those questions… Don’t be, because no question is too dumb, if you don’t know the answer…

Though, should any of you out there own such a handbag, please do let us all know and maybe even send us a picture of you using it… Thanks, we are all curious, too!

Well it is that time of year again when everyone seems to be getting out their BBQ’s and getting them ready for the official BBQ season….. Whenever that is; I really don’t know but it seems to be in the air.

It seems like a ritual for so many guys to get the BBQ out and set it-up.. what there is to set-up really doesn’t take longer than 30 minutes but the ritual itself must be observed and so with the whole to do it will take guys a couple of hours before the whole process is finished.
This I mean firstly, by finding the BBQ… it could bite you because it is right in front of you in the garage, but it still has to be found. Then there is the bringing it outside to clean it up again, even though this was done in the fall before it was put away…. It’s dirty again for sure, because maybe at Christmas time when Santa stopped by he was hungry and lit-up the BBQ for a quick steak before he made his way to the next house….. One has to be careful.

Now the orders have to be given to the female members of the household who are in charge of the buying of the food and preparing the salads and what not that is together with this BBQ event. Really one does not just BBQ there is a science in it even if one doesn’t want to admit it.

Have you ever seen a group of gals standing alone around a BBQ and the guys just relaxing doing nothing and hoping that the gals will grill the steaks right???? I never have and believe me I have been BBQing for years and in many countries and nowhere have I ever seen gals in charge of the BBQ….

It is sort of like a guy thing I would say… Bringing guys back to the beginning of time when everything was cooked over an open fire and they all stood there and exchanged their stories of adventure knowing that here standing by the BBQ is where the roots of civilization began… Now you know!!!

The gals nowadays drive to the grocery store and forage the aisles for the food needed that will be placed on the grill.. Not exactly an easy task either and steer the shopping trolley through the maze to find the right ingredients and then aim for the beverage section in the hopes of finding the right beverages for that meal…. It all sounds so easy but in reality there are hours of work involved in the short time where the guy(s) stand beside the BBQ and cook the food and take credit for the whole logistics of the evening….

Without the back-office of the BBQ event there would be no BBQing. This section seems to be overlooked sometimes and should not be forgotten about and so I think a big thank you should be said to all those who have spent hours preparing for their BBQ and no one said “Wow, you prepared this all by yourself.” And when I think about the hours my mom spent preparing for those couple of hours of BBQing and especially in the 60’s & 70’s with some of those exotic recipes that were abound was unbelievable…

Here is a little taste of what was popular back then.. I have an old cookbook from my mom with those great favorites of the day:

Hawaiian salad, Old-Fashioned jellied Coleslaw, Good Potato salad ( I never knew there was a bad one), Cottage Cheese Jelly Salad ,and the all time favorite.. Macaroni Salad.

Those are just to name a few and every salad somehow had Jello in it or some other sweet ingredient that was indescribable and we ate it with joy because there was no use complaining anyway!! Mom’s word was the last word when it came to eating what was put in front of you on the picnic table… Dad was the guy in charge of the BBQ and those roles were very distinct and not only in our house it was like that wherever you went.

People say times are changing but one ritual seems to have stayed the same throughout the years and that is BBQing.

But before I end this little post I would like to share with all of you an interesting somewhat unusual recipe from back then from some magazine clipping that was in the cookbook.

Favorite Salad (the name is interesting – I wonder who’s favorite it was??)

Now that is what I call a salad!!! If anyone does make it, please by all means let me know how it tastes!!

Enjoy BBQing no matter who is cooking the food and maybe try one of those great recipes from back then to bring a bit of change into your salads being served and impress your friends at the same time too…

Well dinner disasters can happen on that all important day of the year but since I was soooooo organized it really didn’t faze me; ok, I lied here it did upset me a bit but hey .. Who’s perfect???

My turkey was the highlight of the table at our place and all the other stuff that went with it too, and not to mention that I had maybe had a glass or two – tooooo many of some alcoholic beverage that seemed to send my brain to another plant and not let it concentrate on the important things at hand …… like cooking!!!!

Everything was on track until I smelt a mysterious odor coming from the kitchen. A note: I had apples baking in the oven filled with rum raisins and marzipan. Here timing was essential but somehow my thoughts were not on those apples and you can guess what happened next??????

Bingo….. The apples had taken on a somewhat brownish black color and the marzipan was definitely well done to say the least! I believe everything should be thoroughly baked then no chance any bacteria.

Once I managed to make my way to the kitchen and discover that my lovely apples weren’t so lovely anymore and there was definitely a funny color smoke building up inside the oven I knew then and there the desert would have to be something else…. But what???? Thank goodness that I had some ice cream in stock to save the day and the best part was no one really remembered what I said earlier about baked apples…… The wonders of conversation and drink!!!

Ok, everyone was happy with the ice cream and then someone had to have an espresso which really threw my concept right out the window!!! Espresso…. Did I have any espresso coffee and where the heck did I put the espresso machine???? I knew it was in the basement, but where??? Panicking I went down stairs and found it staring at me from the shelf and so espresso could be served… Thank goodness! I needed a sherry after that shock!!!

Then after serving everyone their espresso … sorry there was no famous actor at our house to drink it with us; just a bunch of normal folks having a good time!!

And the best bit was and please note this- I didn’t have enough espresso coffee, so I mixed normal coffee with it and I can say it tasted really good too and no one complained either. Just a tip if you are ever caught short of not having enough espresso coffee mix regular coffee with it.

But all in all I managed and had a good time on that hectic day and that was the most important thing!

Well, being it national coffee day I couldn’t forget to write a bit about my favorite drink…. Coffee!

I am so glad that there is a day to celebrate that great beverage and makes me just want to drink more. Remember years ago before all those coffee shops opened up there was only a choice of decaf or normal coffee and that was with or without milk or sugar. Those were the good’ol coffee days.

Now-a-days coffee isn’t like it used to be with all the blends and flavors that you can buy or all the sorts that you can buy in those coffee shops. Who ever dreamed years ago that coffee would become such a great beverage and everywhere you look you see someone holding a coffee in their hand. The wonders of coffee….

The ways of making coffee has changed too through the years from the stove top percolator moving onto the electric coffee machine to the espresso machine and then to the more advanced systems that are around today… the wonders of a great cup of coffee.

I remember my mom with her percolator set on the stove and waiting patiently for the water to start to boil and then it started to perk the coffee.. Wow the kitchen always smelt sooo good when she was making coffee and that smell definitely cannot be replaced by the machine with capsules, but then again convince has taken over and I wonder can you still buy percolators???? Anyone know?

So being it national coffee day …. Enjoy your coffee wherever you are!